A Psalm for times of need.
You oh Lord are wonderful beyond our imaginings, more majestic than the heavens,
Merciful beyond understanding and sufficient to meet every need.
Oh Lord, hear our cry for we come to you now in our hour of need,
Turn not your back upon us, but see us where we are.
We prostrate ourselves before You and we know that You are good,
We worship and honor you oh Lord, great are Your works upon the Earth,
How can we help but praise You for You are the source of our joy?
Oh Lord, hear our cry, intercede now among your people.
We lift You up and glorify Your name, You are most beautiful oh Lord,
Redeemer of the lost and Lifter of our afflictions, see our need and do Your work.
Oh Lord, hear our cry, for we come before You clothed in humility and weakness,
Without You we are nothing, we depend on You each passing day.
You make a way where there is none, You are our strength and our salvation.
We come before you today with heads bowed low, Oh Lord, hear our cry.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Be Still
I wrote one other post that was more of a testimony (I'll Keep Holding on to Jesus) and now I find myself doing that again. I'm not trying to do anything other than share how God has worked in my life and to life Him up. Perhaps this is not the greatest forum for my personal testimonies, but until something better comes along, I will occasionally make use of my blog for such. It is my blog after all.
Friday morning June 27, 2003, I received a call from my boss asking me to come and see him. I wasn't expecting to be laid off, but when I got that call, I knew that that's what was happening. I only spent about as much time in his office as it took me to drive over there, and I walked out with papers that stated I was no longer an employee of the company I'd worked at for over four years. To be honest, the worst part of it up until that time was just how taken off guard I was.
As I was driving home that morning, still before lunch time, what had happened was just starting to sink in, and I was started getting upset. I had only been out of work before for a week in my entire life, and I didn't have two children and another one on the way at that time (my wife was 8 months pregnant at this time). Needless to say this wasn't a good time for me to be out of work, and work in the IT field was just starting to dry up, especially in Michigan, so I knew finding another job wouldn't be a simple undertaking. I was starting to ask myself why this was happening to me.
I remember think all these things for about the first mile of my way home before the Lord impressed on me the second half of Psalms 37:25 "yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." Over and over in my head I heard these words repeating themselves. I knew that God was really speaking to me and was comforting me and by the time I arrived home, I had a faith that God would take care of my situation and saw me where I was.
I was unemployed the rest of the year, and in January of 2004 I was starting to wonder what I was going to do. My third child had been born the August before (less than a week after the country-wide blackout of 03) and all my expenses were rising. I'd used up some of my savings and my unemployment insurance was running out. Still I was holding on to what God impressed on me so many months before and I was trusting God to provide.
In the middle of January I received a call an HR representative from the company I used to work for asking me to come in and interview for a job. I had had very few leads so I went in the next day and interviewed. It went good, but after the interview I didn't hear much for a couple weeks so I didn't think I got the job. I was really starting to get frantic during that last week in January because there just weren't that many IT jobs still and that was also my last week qualifying for unemployment insurance. I really wasn't getting anywhere when I got a call telling me that I got the job and would be starting on Monday. So I moved from unemployment right back to employment with my old company without a break in income.
In December of 2007, after working almost another four years for my company, this was all happening again. I received notice that the contract for the project that I was working on wasn't going to be renewed. This was right at the beginning of the auto companies trying to cut costs and somehow I found myself on the front lines of cost cutting measures. The problem was that in January of 2008, IT jobs in Michigan were even rarer than they were four years earlier, and I really had no clue how I was going to find another job.
I had put my resume out on just a couple job sites, and I received exactly one call in January about it. The job was an excellent fit for me, and even the auto company I contract to wouldn't change, I would just be working for a new contract house doing much of the same stuff. The job was even in a building I was very familiar with, so that was a bonus too. I interviewed early the next week, was talking to the recruiter that I was dealing with and the final results is that on January 29, 2008, I ended my stint at the first company and began working for my new company and even managed to double dip on that day, technically being an employee of both companies for a day.
All the while as I was wondering what my next move in my career would be in December and January, I was reminded of that same scripture, "yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread" and not only that, the scripture Psalms 46:10 also came to mind. It was as if God was telling me, "I took care of this once. Be still and allow me to take care of this again."
It may seem trivial to you that not only am I thankful for the years of employment I've enjoyed in the IT field, but that maintaining employment is important to me. If you have experienced job loss and unemployment, you know that employment is an important part of life. I'm thankful for a God that cares enough about me to not only provide for me when it comes to employment, but also cares enough to comfort me when things are not going my way and remind me that this aspect of my life too He controls.
Friday morning June 27, 2003, I received a call from my boss asking me to come and see him. I wasn't expecting to be laid off, but when I got that call, I knew that that's what was happening. I only spent about as much time in his office as it took me to drive over there, and I walked out with papers that stated I was no longer an employee of the company I'd worked at for over four years. To be honest, the worst part of it up until that time was just how taken off guard I was.
As I was driving home that morning, still before lunch time, what had happened was just starting to sink in, and I was started getting upset. I had only been out of work before for a week in my entire life, and I didn't have two children and another one on the way at that time (my wife was 8 months pregnant at this time). Needless to say this wasn't a good time for me to be out of work, and work in the IT field was just starting to dry up, especially in Michigan, so I knew finding another job wouldn't be a simple undertaking. I was starting to ask myself why this was happening to me.
I remember think all these things for about the first mile of my way home before the Lord impressed on me the second half of Psalms 37:25 "yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." Over and over in my head I heard these words repeating themselves. I knew that God was really speaking to me and was comforting me and by the time I arrived home, I had a faith that God would take care of my situation and saw me where I was.
I was unemployed the rest of the year, and in January of 2004 I was starting to wonder what I was going to do. My third child had been born the August before (less than a week after the country-wide blackout of 03) and all my expenses were rising. I'd used up some of my savings and my unemployment insurance was running out. Still I was holding on to what God impressed on me so many months before and I was trusting God to provide.
In the middle of January I received a call an HR representative from the company I used to work for asking me to come in and interview for a job. I had had very few leads so I went in the next day and interviewed. It went good, but after the interview I didn't hear much for a couple weeks so I didn't think I got the job. I was really starting to get frantic during that last week in January because there just weren't that many IT jobs still and that was also my last week qualifying for unemployment insurance. I really wasn't getting anywhere when I got a call telling me that I got the job and would be starting on Monday. So I moved from unemployment right back to employment with my old company without a break in income.
In December of 2007, after working almost another four years for my company, this was all happening again. I received notice that the contract for the project that I was working on wasn't going to be renewed. This was right at the beginning of the auto companies trying to cut costs and somehow I found myself on the front lines of cost cutting measures. The problem was that in January of 2008, IT jobs in Michigan were even rarer than they were four years earlier, and I really had no clue how I was going to find another job.
I had put my resume out on just a couple job sites, and I received exactly one call in January about it. The job was an excellent fit for me, and even the auto company I contract to wouldn't change, I would just be working for a new contract house doing much of the same stuff. The job was even in a building I was very familiar with, so that was a bonus too. I interviewed early the next week, was talking to the recruiter that I was dealing with and the final results is that on January 29, 2008, I ended my stint at the first company and began working for my new company and even managed to double dip on that day, technically being an employee of both companies for a day.
All the while as I was wondering what my next move in my career would be in December and January, I was reminded of that same scripture, "yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread" and not only that, the scripture Psalms 46:10 also came to mind. It was as if God was telling me, "I took care of this once. Be still and allow me to take care of this again."
It may seem trivial to you that not only am I thankful for the years of employment I've enjoyed in the IT field, but that maintaining employment is important to me. If you have experienced job loss and unemployment, you know that employment is an important part of life. I'm thankful for a God that cares enough about me to not only provide for me when it comes to employment, but also cares enough to comfort me when things are not going my way and remind me that this aspect of my life too He controls.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Consider The Sources
If I said that the sky was green what would you think about that? At the best you'd question my eyesight and at the worst you'd question either my integrity or sanity because we all know that the sky isn't green it's blue. The blueness of the sky is a fact and a fact is defined as something that is actual [1]. This definition implies that facts can be backed up by evidence. We don't use the word fact as much as we use the word truth but they are synonymous. When we are presented with the facts, those facts can be proved.
It is not my intention to say that I need external proof in order to believe anything I hear preached from the Word. I can just hear the comparisons to Thomas now if I were to say such a thing (John 20:24-25). I am capable of taking things on faith and I also recognize the blessing that this entails. What I'm talking about in this post is actually the other side of the issue completely. Instead, what I'm referring to is when we choose to ignore proof in order to believe what we want to believe. That is another thing altogether, deception.
Truth isn't dependent on sources. Something is either true or it isn't. Truth stands completely on its own. Truth is based on facts and is able to be proved. Truth isn't subjective or mandated. Truth can't be derived from opinion. Truth simply is.
Is it not our duty to research the veracity of information that is presented and to judge it against the Bible as a perfect measure (Acts 17:11)? Are we not to live examined lives, proving Christ in us else we be counted as failures (2 Cor 13:5)? Is not a fundamental change in us that allows us to test out exactly what God's will is (Rom 12:2)? We should examine what we are presented in all aspects of life and determine the truth of it, however it seems to me that we are blindly accepting anything from a "spiritual" source and blindly rejecting anything from a "secular" source instead.
It's wrong to judge whether something is true or not based on what sources it comes from and yet I believe that there are some in our group who do exactly that. To accept anything that is said over the pulpit as truth merely because it was said over the pulpit is an example of this. I'm not implying some agenda on the part of our ministry, merely being cognizant of the fact that our ministers are men and thus fallible. Somehow though, our group has begun to equate believing everything that comes across the pulpit with proper obedience and being "in order" and to question what we are told has become labeled as rebellion.
The flip side of this coin is ignoring fact because it comes from a secular source. A good example of what I'm talking about is evidenced in what some fundamentalist Christians say about fossils. Some say that Satan planted these fossils in an effort to lead us astray while others say that God hid them in an effort to confuse worldly scientists. Why is it that some Christians go to extreme lengths to disbelieve anything that comes from a secular source?
When you judge the truth of a statement solely by the person that is making that statement or intentionally discredit the veracity of a statement based on an unrelated quality of the speaker that is called Ad Hominem. Shane Clifford and I both have written about this before and you can see what we wrote by clicking on the following links: What Shane says about Ad Hominem and what I say about Ad Hominem.
Instead of having to be spoon-fed the truth, it is our responsibility to go searching for it ourselves (2 Tim 2:15). We should desire a greater understanding of God's Word and His will for ourselves, and we shouldn't be too reliant on any external extra-biblical source, including our leadership (1 Cor 13:8-9). Instead we should be instilling the Word of God in our hearts in an ongoing effort to grow in Christ so that that understanding becomes a part of us and changes who we are (Psalms 119:11, 2 Pet 3:18, James 1:21). Isn't this some of what Paul refers to as pressing towards the mark (Phil 3:14)?
Reference:
[1] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fact
It is not my intention to say that I need external proof in order to believe anything I hear preached from the Word. I can just hear the comparisons to Thomas now if I were to say such a thing (John 20:24-25). I am capable of taking things on faith and I also recognize the blessing that this entails. What I'm talking about in this post is actually the other side of the issue completely. Instead, what I'm referring to is when we choose to ignore proof in order to believe what we want to believe. That is another thing altogether, deception.
Truth isn't dependent on sources. Something is either true or it isn't. Truth stands completely on its own. Truth is based on facts and is able to be proved. Truth isn't subjective or mandated. Truth can't be derived from opinion. Truth simply is.
Is it not our duty to research the veracity of information that is presented and to judge it against the Bible as a perfect measure (Acts 17:11)? Are we not to live examined lives, proving Christ in us else we be counted as failures (2 Cor 13:5)? Is not a fundamental change in us that allows us to test out exactly what God's will is (Rom 12:2)? We should examine what we are presented in all aspects of life and determine the truth of it, however it seems to me that we are blindly accepting anything from a "spiritual" source and blindly rejecting anything from a "secular" source instead.
It's wrong to judge whether something is true or not based on what sources it comes from and yet I believe that there are some in our group who do exactly that. To accept anything that is said over the pulpit as truth merely because it was said over the pulpit is an example of this. I'm not implying some agenda on the part of our ministry, merely being cognizant of the fact that our ministers are men and thus fallible. Somehow though, our group has begun to equate believing everything that comes across the pulpit with proper obedience and being "in order" and to question what we are told has become labeled as rebellion.
The flip side of this coin is ignoring fact because it comes from a secular source. A good example of what I'm talking about is evidenced in what some fundamentalist Christians say about fossils. Some say that Satan planted these fossils in an effort to lead us astray while others say that God hid them in an effort to confuse worldly scientists. Why is it that some Christians go to extreme lengths to disbelieve anything that comes from a secular source?
When you judge the truth of a statement solely by the person that is making that statement or intentionally discredit the veracity of a statement based on an unrelated quality of the speaker that is called Ad Hominem. Shane Clifford and I both have written about this before and you can see what we wrote by clicking on the following links: What Shane says about Ad Hominem and what I say about Ad Hominem.
Instead of having to be spoon-fed the truth, it is our responsibility to go searching for it ourselves (2 Tim 2:15). We should desire a greater understanding of God's Word and His will for ourselves, and we shouldn't be too reliant on any external extra-biblical source, including our leadership (1 Cor 13:8-9). Instead we should be instilling the Word of God in our hearts in an ongoing effort to grow in Christ so that that understanding becomes a part of us and changes who we are (Psalms 119:11, 2 Pet 3:18, James 1:21). Isn't this some of what Paul refers to as pressing towards the mark (Phil 3:14)?
Reference:
[1] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fact
Sunday, March 14, 2010
It Will Be Worth It All
I've chosen to live a life dedicated to God, and over the years I have become more and more aware that not everyone is going to be pleased with the choices that I make. This can make my life hard and complicated and fill it with disappointment and difficulty. And yet when it comes time for me to put away this life and all its concerns, when I hear the words, "Well done my good and faithful servant", that will make every struggle, every heartache, and every disappointment that I've ever gone through worth it.
This is my account of the hope that lies within me, for you see my God is worth anything that I could ever go through and is worthy of my highest praise, a life lived for Him.
This is my account of the hope that lies within me, for you see my God is worth anything that I could ever go through and is worthy of my highest praise, a life lived for Him.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Unity in Christ
"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." (Psalms 133:1)
I haven't always feel led to speak what God has laid on my heart, especially from the pulpit. However I want to be more responsive to the leading of the Spirit and as I've matured I've begun feeling a longing in my heart to be ready for when the Spirit does lead me. Continually I pray for God to impress on me what He wants me to say, fully expecting an answer. I wasn't surprised then when Psalms 133:1 was laid on my heart recently or not long after that when the verses Phil 2:3-4 and Psalms 127:1 were also impressed on me.
Perhaps I'm the only one that sees a particular theme in these scriptures, but I'm drawn to one concept, unity. I am left with a question though, what kind of unity are we expected to achieve?
The first thing that comes to my mind is doctrinal unity. We all believe that the Bible is God's infallible Word, but in each of our own local churches a wide range of beliefs and doctrinal stances abound. In just my own church, scriptural interpretation varies so much that the thought of complete doctrinal unity seems almost absurd. Furthermore, if a church can't achieve this unity, how could an entire fellowship of churches be expected to? I know that Paul told the Corinthians that one day we shall know even as we are known and that is wonderful(I Cor. 13:12). The only problem with this verse is that it has not been fulfilled yet, and right now we don't .
So if the scripture isn't talking about a unity of understanding, what is it referring to? Certainly not to something as mundane as personal preferences, our own likes and dislikes. Whether this applies to styles of worship, what types of music blesses you, whether or not you relate to a certain speaker, how long the services are, when they start, their frequency or any of a non-ending list of the aspects of our shared church experience, to think that we could ever be 100% in one accord and one mind when it comes to them makes the previous thought of doctrinal unity look like a breeze.
Does it seem to you to be a failure or weakness that our very diversity creates an inability for us to be unified in this way? Consider that there do seem to be some churches that manage a semblance of this type of unity, at least it appears that way to a casual observer. I submit that it is actually a blessing from God for our church that we have been kept from achieving this. I've seen churches that have attained this, but only because they focus so much on their doctrine, or their service structure, or their music, or their special programs, or guest speakers or whatever that they have lost their focus on Christ, some it seems permanently. As a result these groups have grown into stoic organizations and have ceased being New Testament churches. "Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it."
The fatal flaw with trying to base a unity on any of these things is that they all contain a human element which we refer to as carnality. What is doctrine except man's understanding of the scriptures? Aren't music and speaking styles really just an artifice created by men? Aren't things as arbitrary as service length, frequency and structure not set for the convenience of men? Even the modern structures that we call churches are constructed to service men not God. It's not because of what we can bring to the table that God blesses these things, He blesses us based on His love. How can we expect a church that is founded on carnal structures to be anything other than a carnal church?
So if by design we can't bring about unity on our own, where does it come from? Phrased that way the answer is apparent, but occasionally I like to be indulged, so I will continue. Since unity doesn't come from us, it must come from somewhere else. This unity that it is so blessed for us to dwell in of course comes from God.
These verses are extolling us to live in a unity of the Spirit. The thing about this type of unity is that I've experienced it before, we all have. I don't know if I could put it any better than the writer of this old spiritual did:
Let us walk in the Spirit,
And talk in the Spirit,
Let's be filled with the Spirit of God,
If we live in the Spirit,
And are led by the Spirit,
We'll be the children of God.
Walk, talk, live and be led; that's a high calling indeed.
Let the children of God be filled with His Spirit. Truly that's my prayer today, and the burden that's been laid on my heart. I can't adequately describe how heavy this is weighing on me right now, even as I'm writing this. I keep stopping every few sentences and pray for my church family for a greater outpouring of His Spirit. I sit here holding back the tears as I plead for God to send more and more and more of His Spirit. Maybe I'm failing in etiquette and decorum for not asking for just enough to sustain us, but I won't be dissuaded. I'm pleading for more of the Spirit than we've ever had before. I want to be overflowing, bursting at the seams, overjoyed, and to have so much of the Spirit that we can't hardly stand it any more, and then after that I want just a bit more. I want us to be out in over our heads, with no end in sight and to be going home from services tired and refreshed all at the same time. I'm praying for this kind of outpouring for our group now.
Two songs say so eloquently what I'm hoping for in our group. First in Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, we're told that "the things of Earth will grow strangely dim", and in Until Then we hear that "these things of Earth are going to dim and lose their value." I'm looking for a little dimming to happen soon among God's people. Whether they are valuable things or just concerns, may we lose our focus on them, and get a renewed desire to set our affections on things above, not on things below (Col 3:2). You see, it's just not possible to keep our eyes on Jesus and on ourselves at the same time. Vision has always been fundamental to our movement and it occurs to me that having a Vision might have something to do with what we choose to focus our vision on.
Finally, its my hope that I'm not carrying this burden alone. I wouldn't want to think that I'm the only person that sees a need for more of the Spirit in our lives. Assuming I'm not, I'm asking you to join me in praying for our churches.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
There Must Be Change
Our group is a special group, I don't question that. We have it pretty good in this fellowship of assemblies. It's not a terrible place to be as some would say, neither is it a cult as some have claimed. We are made up of the children of God, people striving to do what's right as a result of the work that Jesus has done in their lives.
To say that we are the restored church however is just not true. I think that the majority of people in this group believe that we are striving for restoration, but we're just not there yet and this is a good goal (Phil 3:12). It brings a sense of purpose to our group and yearning for more than we have today when we consider ourselves this way. I don't know anyone who believes that we are already where we need to be, have everything we need to have, and are already the restored church made manifest. Simply put, we all have a way to go to get to where God wants us.
The truth in the last two paragraphs can be summed up by saying that to get where we need to go, we will have to change. Does anyone deny this? I don't know really. Are we welcoming change? I think not. In the Des Moines meeting last year, several ministers spoke out about fearing change, being slow to change, or being cautious about changing. I realize that some change is negative, and change just for it's own sake can often be exactly that, but if we adopt a spirit of intransigence, we will miss out on the leading of the Lord.
I'm reminded of the person trying to hold sand in his hands. The tighter he bears down, the more sand slips through his fingers. We are at this phase as a group. We are trying to hold on so hard to the things that make us special, the blessings that still have are starting to just slip away. We need to be willing to change.
I'm also reminded of the children of Israel in the wilderness who were always looking back to how good things were in Egypt and never how good things were promised to be in the land of milk and honey (Numbers 11:5-6). If God is going to lead us into a full realization of a restored church, He can't do it if we are stuck defending our position, unwilling to change. Let me take that a step farther. If God is going to lead our leaders into a full realization of a restored ministry, He can't do that if they are stuck defending their position, unwilling to change either. Bro. Atwell said in a sermon way back in 1983 that if in our Christian walk we can look around and see the same issues around us that we have always seen, it's because we have stopped journeying. I don't ever want to get stuck in a position where I've stopped progressing and the only positive thought I can think is how good God used to be when I was still under His covering.
We sing a song about wanting to move when God moves if we move, but I ask everyone in our group, is that what we're doing? I submit instead that we are either waiting to move or don't really have moving on on our agenda. I want to be willing to move on with Jesus, and the only way for that to happen is for us to allow it to happen.
Brothers and Sisters, There Must Be Change.
To say that we are the restored church however is just not true. I think that the majority of people in this group believe that we are striving for restoration, but we're just not there yet and this is a good goal (Phil 3:12). It brings a sense of purpose to our group and yearning for more than we have today when we consider ourselves this way. I don't know anyone who believes that we are already where we need to be, have everything we need to have, and are already the restored church made manifest. Simply put, we all have a way to go to get to where God wants us.
The truth in the last two paragraphs can be summed up by saying that to get where we need to go, we will have to change. Does anyone deny this? I don't know really. Are we welcoming change? I think not. In the Des Moines meeting last year, several ministers spoke out about fearing change, being slow to change, or being cautious about changing. I realize that some change is negative, and change just for it's own sake can often be exactly that, but if we adopt a spirit of intransigence, we will miss out on the leading of the Lord.
I'm reminded of the person trying to hold sand in his hands. The tighter he bears down, the more sand slips through his fingers. We are at this phase as a group. We are trying to hold on so hard to the things that make us special, the blessings that still have are starting to just slip away. We need to be willing to change.
I'm also reminded of the children of Israel in the wilderness who were always looking back to how good things were in Egypt and never how good things were promised to be in the land of milk and honey (Numbers 11:5-6). If God is going to lead us into a full realization of a restored church, He can't do it if we are stuck defending our position, unwilling to change. Let me take that a step farther. If God is going to lead our leaders into a full realization of a restored ministry, He can't do that if they are stuck defending their position, unwilling to change either. Bro. Atwell said in a sermon way back in 1983 that if in our Christian walk we can look around and see the same issues around us that we have always seen, it's because we have stopped journeying. I don't ever want to get stuck in a position where I've stopped progressing and the only positive thought I can think is how good God used to be when I was still under His covering.
We sing a song about wanting to move when God moves if we move, but I ask everyone in our group, is that what we're doing? I submit instead that we are either waiting to move or don't really have moving on on our agenda. I want to be willing to move on with Jesus, and the only way for that to happen is for us to allow it to happen.
Brothers and Sisters, There Must Be Change.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Plug For Two Excellent Bible Websites
I'm not sure if you are aware of it, but, I've incorporated some Java coding into this blog that when to hover over a scripture reference, it pops up the scripture in a little dialog box (i.e. Acts 2:38). This is a very neat tool, and it is provided by Bible.Logos.com. I see that other bloggers have been incorporating this tool into their blog, and I think it provides not only a nice little reference tool, but also can keep a blog a little less bogged down with a lot of quotations. There are instructions on the site for adding this bit of Javascript to your website if you are interested. However, this is not the only online Bible tool that I use.
My favorite Bible website is Blue Letter Bible. This site is my online Bible of choice. It has many of the same features that other online Bibles have, but has a few special ones that I think are really nice. One of the main good points that is has is audio Bibles (four versions right now), which can be started from any chapter you happen to be reading at the time. Also, every verse has links to Hebrew and Greek lexicons (depending on the original language), commentaries (many in streaming audio format), parallel translations, study tools, dictionary aids, and one of the most unique features, it has a hymn database that lists hymns that are derived from that scripture.
Both of these programs are excellent, and I like them very much. I highly recommend Blue Letter Bible to anyone with an internet connection. I'm interested in your favorite web tools as well. If you have a favorite, please list them in the comments with a brief description of why they are your favorite.
My favorite Bible website is Blue Letter Bible. This site is my online Bible of choice. It has many of the same features that other online Bibles have, but has a few special ones that I think are really nice. One of the main good points that is has is audio Bibles (four versions right now), which can be started from any chapter you happen to be reading at the time. Also, every verse has links to Hebrew and Greek lexicons (depending on the original language), commentaries (many in streaming audio format), parallel translations, study tools, dictionary aids, and one of the most unique features, it has a hymn database that lists hymns that are derived from that scripture.
Both of these programs are excellent, and I like them very much. I highly recommend Blue Letter Bible to anyone with an internet connection. I'm interested in your favorite web tools as well. If you have a favorite, please list them in the comments with a brief description of why they are your favorite.
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